


Delicate

by Purple_FreeSia



Category: SM Rookies
Genre: F/F, Mentioned! Haechan, Mentioned! Mark Lee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27955256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_FreeSia/pseuds/Purple_FreeSia
Summary: Koeun is strong, but delicate. And Hina knows it best.
Relationships: Ko Eunji | Koeun/Nakamura Hina





	Delicate

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this while imagining SR16G actually debut together. So, please bear with me....

Contrary to popular belief, Koeun is not necessarily the strongest girls in this universe. And Hina knows that like the back of her hand. People are calling her “Captain Marvel” of SM, but Hina begs to differ.   
“She’s more like Scarlet Witch for me.” Hina said the other day after watching Avengers: Endgame with the girls. Sure, Koeun is strong, tough, strict and sturdy like a rock but they don’t know how delicate and fragile she is at times. She just covers it well—Hina argues with herself most of the time.   
Hina fully understands that people might get the wrong idea about how strong and tough Koeun is because she covers those insecurities so damn well with her brutally honest reactions and outstanding wit (or simply because she just made an illuminati level of deception right there—Hina said the other day when she tried to savagely criticize Koeun but at the end of the day she decided to keep it herself). But they don’t know that sometimes she cries under the cover on their shared bed at the dorm. They don’t know that sometimes the endearing smiles she flaunts to all the people out there are the ones she shows to hide her broken heart and spirit. But, Hina knows that pretty well, knowing her for more than five years have made Hina understand even a simple gesture from Koeun so naturally. She automatically understands what she wants or need, and it’s become a sort of secret code between them.   
Hina knows that being a leader is never easy, let alone being a leader and lead vocalist and lead dancer in a newly debuted group from one of the big 3 company, namely SM Entertainment. All eyes are going to be focused on you and, you have to be as flawless as possible. Hina realizes that when Koeun silently winces in pain after their dance practice. She hurt her feet the other day but she didn’t tell anyone.   
“I don’t want you girls to be worried about me” Koeun said after Hina gave her a mickey mouse band-aid and asked her why she didn’t tell her earlier.   
“Stop saying something nonsensical, Unnie!” Hina flicked her tongue, clearly annoyed. But Koeun just smiled weakly to reassure Hina that she is okay. Eventually, Koeun is not that okay.   
“You should take a rest.” Hina commences their conversation after the practice.   
“I’m fine. We have to practice a lot for comeback…” Koeun then starts telling the others to practice more, ignoring how worried Hina is right now. Sometimes Hina wishes she could say “Wingardium Leviosa” and then magically send Koeun right to their dorm to take rest.   
Hina is also aware how Koeun always lets Sungkyung, Yizhuo, Jungyeon, even her to lean on her shoulder when they feel tired, suffocated, or sad. And it makes her wonder whether she has somebody to lean on when she feels down in the dump. She got the answers not so long ago when she heard a quiet sob in her shared bedroom with Koeun at night. She thought she was dreaming but Koeun’s slightly swollen eyes in the morning says it all too clearly for her to be ignored. Hina really wants to say, “lean on me, I’m here.” to her, but knowing how good Koeun at hiding her feelings, she has learned that Koeun will just softly shove her shoulder, smiles faintly, and then says, “I am not dying, Hina-ya. I am fine. Don’t worry”. All this time Hina just tries to deal with those subtle rejections and denials, but this time she has had enough of those things. So when Hina successfully asks Koeun out for an ice cream date as a cover up, she decides to finally confront her about everything. It’s time to put everything to rest—Hina says to herself.  
“I heard you sobbing last night, under the covers, for the nth time this month.” She almost makes Koeun chokes on her strawberry cheesecake ice cream, “you covered it well, but I still heard it anyway.” Because when you’re that close to me, I can hear everything too clearly—she states silently in her mind.  
“I just miss mom and dad…” Koeun smiles again. Hina knows it’s a lie, well not one hundred percent a lie, maybe just thirty percent of it, but it is still a lie. Koeun needs to stop her habit of hiding everything from her. She then asks her again,  
“And Mark too?” Koeun lets out a snicker,  
“Yes, and Hyuck too.”   
“You know that you can always count on me and tell everything to me, don’t you?” Hina stops eating her ice cream, “I am your teammate, unnie. Even if you don’t like it you’re practically stuck with me and the other girls for the rest of our contract. Why don’t you try to trust me or them a bit and stop disguising your sadness with all those pretty smiles?” Hina can hear herself almost shouting in desperation. Tears are dangerously pooling in the corner of her eyes and she really needs to calm herself down before she cries out loud. The sasaengs might be out there and if she made a wrong move like crying they could misinterpret and twist everything (like making a rumor that Koeun bullied her team member until she cries) to shred Koeun to pieces again like what they did before their long-awaited debut with the same old incorrect bullying rumor.  
“So this is why you’re dragging me out of the dorm with ice cream date as a cover-up? You wanted to scold me so badly, I supposed.”   
“Yes!” She gets the picture that she will never be able to lie to Koeun, despite having the guts to do so, “I want to scold you in front of the others but I comprehend it well that it might hurt your little pride.” Koeun lets out another snicker,  
“Thank you, Hina.” Hina really thought that she might blow up and be mad at her, but she shows her one of the most genuine smiles she’s ever seen (and it’s so pretty she can’t help but staring), “And I am sorry for making you worry so much about me.”  
“Please promise me one thing…”  
“What is it?”  
“Don’t act like you walk this road alone. At least, I am here with you. I might not be as sturdy and tough like a rock, but I can be a good human headrest.” Hina looks at straightly, “I understand that being strict and strong is your job as a leader. I don’t want to take that away from you. I just want to be someone you could lean on, be your shoulder to cry on.”  
“I say we can add that to your job description other than our main dancer, lead vocalist, and lead rapper.” Koeun holds her hand. Her hands are so warm that Hina can’t help but wishing that they could hold hand all the time, “I am so grateful to have you as a teammate. I love you, Hina-ya.” Hina can feel her heart skips a beat. She apprehends that those three words are the universal way of saying how much she appreciates her presence and her company (though she is not the best companion like Yerim, or Mark, or even Donghyuck ever are), but will it hurt her to yearn for the ideas that Koeun means everything when she said those I-loves-yous to her?  
“I love you too.” She says and she means it.  
***


End file.
